North Korea's 'hotel of doom' could open next year

North Korea's notorious 105-storey, pyramid-shaped hotel, nicknamed the 'hotel of doom', could open next year, some 25 years after building began.

Exterior construction resumed three years ago, but few have been allowed insidePhoto: AP

11:41AM GMT 01 Nov 2012

Pyongyang's Ryugyong Hotel will "partially, probably" open in the middle of next year, Reto Wittwer, CEO of international hotel operator Kempinski AG, said on Thursday at a forum in Seoul, South Korea.

Kempinski will manage the hotel, which Mr Wittwer said will open with shops, offices, ballrooms, restaurants and 150 rooms.

The enormous hotel has been a source of fascination and ridicule for the outside world, and an oversized embarrassment for North Korea's authoritarian regime.

North Korea began building the Ryugyong in the 1980s but stopped when funding ran out in the 1990s. Exterior construction resumed in 2009.

There have been various reports in recent years that the hotel was preparing to finally open. In September, a Beijing-based tour agency was allowed to peek inside and released pictures of the bare concrete lobby.

The enormous hotel remains a source of fascination – and ridicule – for the outside world. It has been nicknamed the "hotel of doom". It was labelled by Esquire magazine as the "worst building in the history of mankind".

Reports emerged last year suggesting the hotel was finally due to open its doors, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder Kim il-sung.

It was in 1987 that the hotel – whose name means Capital of Willows – was first launched with the grandiose ambitions of creating the world's tallest tower.

However, construction ground to a halt in 1993, due to lack of funds following the collapse of the Soviet Union, economic mismanagement and natural disasters.